Philosophy of Education: My philosophy of educations is that every child should receive a good education in an environment that fosters learning. Learning is not about passing tests but preparing students for their futures outside of the educational setting. Besides core subjects, students should be learning how to live and thrive in the world. It is the information that students learn in their core class will make them well-rounded, but it is the skills to interpret and use information that make students successful outside of school.I believe as a teacher, that I should be a resource for students. As a school library media specialist, I am a resource on how to find information but I believe that I play a more important role for students. Information literacy skills must be taught to students for them to succeed inside and outside of the classroom. Being able to solve problems and think critically is a skill most employers look for and those skills can be taught in the library media center. The library media center is the center of the school and can support all curriculum, just as the skills taught in the library media center can be used in and out of school. Framework: My framework is more like a brick wall. Each brick is important to the overall structure of learning. Students can build onto each brick to make their learning experience more meaningful. Acquiring knowledge is an important first step to learning. Students must acquire some knowledge for learning to happen. Students can then critically think and examine that knowledge. Or they can use that knowledge in a meaningful way that furthers their learning. After doing an assignment or when they have finished exploring a topic students can then reflect on that topic. Attitudes and perceptions can be related to this because students may have enjoyed the process or found it redundant. These bricks do not have an order to them but can occur in any form. But all together the bricks reflect the learning process. And the learning process can be something stationary and strong, or continually being added upon. Concepts:
Attitudes & Perceptions
Acquire Knowledge
Use Knowledge Meaningfully
Critical Thinking & Exploring
Reflect on Learning
Chapter One & Two
Assimilation
Fitting new information into existing schemes.
Accomodation
Altering existing schemes or creating new ones in response to new information.
Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development
Phase at which a child can master a task if given appropriate help and support.
Shared problem space.
Piaget's Stages of Development
Four Stages, sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete-operational, and formal operations.
Everyone goes through these stages in order, but time spent in each stage varies.
Chapter Four
Theory of Multiple Intelligences
Gardner's theory of intelligence, a person has eight separate abilities: logical-mathematical, linguistic, musical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist.
Important to be aware of this theory but not possible to have every lesson include all 8 intelligences.
Learning Styles
Characteristic approaches to learning and studying.
Just because someone has a learning style doesn't mean they cannot do something because it is not their "style."
Least Restrictive Environment
Educating each child with peers in the regular classroom to the greatest extent possible.
There is benefit to learning in an environment with multiple abilities.
Differentiated Instruction
Process to approach teaching and learning for students of differing abilities in the same class.
Change Content, Process, or Product based on the needs of your students.
Scaffolding
Providing temporary assistance to help students succeed.
Students are able to figure out what they can do on their own and get the boost they need for what they can't do on their own.
Chapter Six
Self-Management
Management of your own behavior and acceptance of responsibility for your own actions.
Also the use of behavioral learning principles to change your own behavior.
Students who self-manage are able to change their attitudes and behavior so that it is suitable for learning.
Vicarious Reinforcement
Increasing the chances that students will repeat a behavior by observing another student being reinforced for that behavior.
Sets the tone for the educational environment for students when they see the rules being enforced with other students.
Task Analysis
System for breaking down a task hierarchically into basic skills and sub-skills.
Almost like differentiated instruction in that it helps students gain knowledge by breaking the task down so it is easier to understand what needs to be done.
Positive Reinforcement
Strengthening behavior by presenting a desired stimulus after the behavior.
Allows students to reflect on learning to show they did a good job.
Token Reinforcement System
System in which tokens earned for academic work and positive classroom behavior can be exchanged for some desired reward.
Besides receiving a grade, students are gaining something tangible for good academic progress.
Chapter Seven
Central Executive Memory
Part of the working memory that is responsible for monitoring and directing attention and other mental resources.
Memory that focuses on paying attention to the task at hand. If this memory is weak in students it will be hard for them to actively work on an assignment.
Serial-Position Effect
The tendency to remember the beginning and end but not the middle of a list.
Beneficial to break lessons up so that students remember more.
Distributed Practice
Based on serial-position effect.
Practice in brief periods with rest intervals.
Allows for greater retention of material.
Information Processing
The human mind's activity of taking in, storing and using information.
If we understand how students process information we can make it easier for them to remember the information.
Self-Regulatory Knowledge
Knowing how to manage your learning, or knowing how and when to use your declarative or procedural knowledge.
When students understand when to use what they know, they will be able to effectively use it.
Germane Cognitive Load
Deep processing of information related to the task, including the application of prior knowledge to a new task or problem.
Chapter Eight
Learning Strategies
General plans for approaching learning tasks.
Combine learning tactics for an overall learning strategy.
Learning Tactics
Specific techniques for learning, such as using mnemonics or outlining a passage.
Students with good metacognitive skills set goals, organize their activities, select among various approaches to learning, and change strategies if needed.
KWL
A strategy to guide reading and inquiry: Before -- What do I already know? What do I want to know? After -- What have I learned?
Critical Thinking
Evaluating conclusions by logically and systematically examining the problem, the evidence, and the solution.
Chapter Fourteen
Norm-referenced Testing
Testing in which scores are compared with the average performance of others.
Different selection criteria for norm groups can cause norm-referenced testing to be skewed.
Formative Assessment
Ungraded testing used before or during instruction to aid in planning and diagnosis.
By using formative assessment, a teacher can check to make sure the students are gaining the knowledge that the teacher as planned.
Adequate Yearly Progress
Objectives for yearly improvement for all students and for specific groups such as students from major ethnic and racial groups, students with disabilities, students from low-income families, and students whose English is limited.
Part of NCLB. Wants progress but does not expect it to happen instantly. Shows that students are gaining some knowledge by the progress they make.
Performance Assessment
Any form of assessment that requires students to carry out an activity or produce a product in order to demonstrate learning.
Showing how knowledge can be used and how to do it gives more meaning than answering questions.
Authentic Assessment
Assessment procedures that test skills and abilities as they would be applied in real-life situations.
Allows students to use knowledge in a situation beyond a testing situation.
Assessment
Procedures used to obtain information bout student performance.
Basic types include standardized testing and classroom assessments.
Opportunity for teachers to reflect on student learning and to check for understanding.
Portfolio
A collection of the student's work in an area, sowing growth, self-reflection, and achievement.
A chance for others to see the evolution of a students work and for the student to explore their own evolution.
Chapter Ten
Social Cognitive Theory
Theory that adds concern with cognitive factors such as beliefs, self-perceptions, and expectations to social learning theory.
Volition
Will power; self-discipline; work styles that protect opportunities to reach goals by applying self-regulated learning.
Social Learning Theory
Theory that emphasizes learning through observation of others.
Just part of how people are able to acquire knowledge.
Modeling
Changes in behavior, thinking, or emotions that happen through observing another person--a model.
Change could be good or bad based on who they are modeling.
Self-Regulation
Process of activating and sustaining thoughts, behaviors, and emotions in order to reach goals.
Students and Teachers need to self-regulate their learning in order to make sure they are on the right track. If not, they need to change their learning behavior.
Self-Regulated Learning
A view of learning as skills and will applied to analyzing learning tasks, setting goals and planning how to do the task, applying skills, and especially making adjustments about how learning is carried out.
Chapter Eleven
Motivation
An internal state that arouses, directs, and maintains behavior.
Important attitude for students and teachers to have so that knowledge can be acquired.
A behavior that people must choose to have.
Epistemological Beliefs
What students believe about knowledge and learning will influence their motivation and the kinds of strategies that they use.
There are several dimensions of epistemological beliefs: structure of knowledge, stability/certainty of knowledge, ability to learn, speed of learning, and nature of learning.
Task-Involved Learners
Students who focus on mastering the task or solving the problem.
Students will only focus on the learning the knowledge necessary to finish a task.
Academic Tasks
The work the student must accomplish, including the content covered and the mental operations required.
Tasks can affect students' motivation based on the value of the task.
Students will value tasks differently and have different motivation in completing them.
Problem-Based Learning
Methods that provide students with realistic problems that don't necessarily have right answers.
Gives students the ability to discuss and use knowledge to try and solve the real-life problem.
Chapter Twelve
Classroom Management
Techniques used to maintain a healthy learning environment, relatively free of behavior problems.
If students are behaving they will be ready to learn. If the students have no respect for the teacher, there will be no way they can manage the classroom.
Withitness
Awareness of everything happening in a classroom
Eyes in the back of your head.
Management technique to make students know you know everything that is going on.
Academic Learning Time
Time when students are actually succeeding at the learning task.
Only 300 to 400 hours of 1,000 hours of instruction are actually used for academic learning time.
Paraphrase Rule
Policy whereby listeners must accurately summarize what a speaker has said before being allowed to respond.
Proves that students are paying attention and that if they ask a question it is because they didn't get it, not that they weren't listening.
Self-Management
Management of your own behavior and acceptance of responsibility for your own actions.
Self-questioning for students. Did they manage their behavior so that they could learn what they needed to? What held them back?
My philosophy of educations is that every child should receive a good education in an environment that fosters learning. Learning is not about passing tests but preparing students for their futures outside of the educational setting. Besides core subjects, students should be learning how to live and thrive in the world. It is the information that students learn in their core class will make them well-rounded, but it is the skills to interpret and use information that make students successful outside of school.I believe as a teacher, that I should be a resource for students. As a school library media specialist, I am a resource on how to find information but I believe that I play a more important role for students. Information literacy skills must be taught to students for them to succeed inside and outside of the classroom. Being able to solve problems and think critically is a skill most employers look for and those skills can be taught in the library media center. The library media center is the center of the school and can support all curriculum, just as the skills taught in the library media center can be used in and out of school.
Framework:
My framework is more like a brick wall. Each brick is important to the overall structure of learning. Students can build onto each brick to make their learning experience more meaningful. Acquiring knowledge is an important first step to learning. Students must acquire some knowledge for learning to happen. Students can then critically think and examine that knowledge. Or they can use that knowledge in a meaningful way that furthers their learning. After doing an assignment or when they have finished exploring a topic students can then reflect on that topic. Attitudes and perceptions can be related to this because students may have enjoyed the process or found it redundant. These bricks do not have an order to them but can occur in any form. But all together the bricks reflect the learning process. And the learning process can be something stationary and strong, or continually being added upon.
Concepts:
- Fitting new information into existing schemes.
Accomodation- Phase at which a child can master a task if given appropriate help and support.
- Shared problem space.
Piaget's Stages of Development- Characteristic approaches to learning and studying.
- Just because someone has a learning style doesn't mean they cannot do something because it is not their "style."
Least Restrictive Environment- Educating each child with peers in the regular classroom to the greatest extent possible.
- There is benefit to learning in an environment with multiple abilities.
Differentiated Instruction- Management of your own behavior and acceptance of responsibility for your own actions.
- Also the use of behavioral learning principles to change your own behavior.
- Students who self-manage are able to change their attitudes and behavior so that it is suitable for learning.
Vicarious Reinforcement- Strengthening behavior by presenting a desired stimulus after the behavior.
- Allows students to reflect on learning to show they did a good job.
Token Reinforcement System- The tendency to remember the beginning and end but not the middle of a list.
- Beneficial to break lessons up so that students remember more.
Distributed Practice- The human mind's activity of taking in, storing and using information.
- If we understand how students process information we can make it easier for them to remember the information.
Self-Regulatory Knowledge- General plans for approaching learning tasks.
- Combine learning tactics for an overall learning strategy.
Learning Tactics- A strategy to guide reading and inquiry: Before -- What do I already know? What do I want to know? After -- What have I learned?
Critical Thinking- Ungraded testing used before or during instruction to aid in planning and diagnosis.
- By using formative assessment, a teacher can check to make sure the students are gaining the knowledge that the teacher as planned.
Adequate Yearly Progress- Procedures used to obtain information bout student performance.
- Basic types include standardized testing and classroom assessments.
- Opportunity for teachers to reflect on student learning and to check for understanding.
Portfolio- Theory that adds concern with cognitive factors such as beliefs, self-perceptions, and expectations to social learning theory.
Volition- Theory that emphasizes learning through observation of others.
- Just part of how people are able to acquire knowledge.
Modeling- Process of activating and sustaining thoughts, behaviors, and emotions in order to reach goals.
- Students and Teachers need to self-regulate their learning in order to make sure they are on the right track. If not, they need to change their learning behavior.
Self-Regulated Learning- An internal state that arouses, directs, and maintains behavior.
- Important attitude for students and teachers to have so that knowledge can be acquired.
- A behavior that people must choose to have.
Epistemological Beliefs- Techniques used to maintain a healthy learning environment, relatively free of behavior problems.
- If students are behaving they will be ready to learn. If the students have no respect for the teacher, there will be no way they can manage the classroom.
Withitness- Time when students are actually succeeding at the learning task.
- Only 300 to 400 hours of 1,000 hours of instruction are actually used for academic learning time.
Paraphrase Rule